Thakshak

I do have a vague recollection of seeing this movie years ago - nothing special but nonetheless more sensible and entertaining than the usual Hindi potboiler.

What I really do appreciate about this movie is the music - 2 songs, the zippy " RANG DE " and the dreamy " KHAMOSH RAAT " - the latter is a particularly beautiful song and I still enjoy this song as much as the first time I heard it.

This was one of the few mainstream Hindi movies Rahul Bose has done - surprisingly as a villain. I hope to see Mr and Mrs Iyer soon, heard he is terrific in it. Also missed Maqbool for Tabu but she shines in Chandni bar. As for Devgan and Nihlani, their body of work is so big it doesn't matter if their next 4-5 movies make it at the BO or not!

Thakshak tells how Ishaan (Ajay Devgan) an underworld guy comes out of the underworld to join common people through the inspiration of his love Suman (Tabu). The story subject is no new. It has been beaten to death by several directors in Indian cinema.

What makes Thakshak watchable is Govind Nihalani's treatment of the subject and, good acting by Ajay Devgan, Rahul Bose and Tabu. Instead of having too many gun shots and killings, Govind Nihalani through one family killing brings five view points together; the view of common people (Tabu); the view of the guy who understands the underworld he is in and who is trying to understand the common people through his love (Ishaan); the arrogance of power (Sunny, Rahul Bose); the view of the government elected-by common people; and, the view of law protecting the common people. Note that the later two are also part of the power play. Govind Nihalani churns a nice tale around these view points and gives an entertaining movie.

However, Thakshak falls short of the standard set by Govind Nihalani himself. From the very first scene of the movie, he shows that Ishaan sees the world through the eyes of his love Suman and she is his salvation. Also, from the first killing itself Nihalani shows the arrogance of power (listen to the dialogues of Sunny and the retired teacher) . If only Nihalani had kept Thakshak tightly around these premise with strong dialogues and screen play (thark/vithark) instead of putting onus on acting skills (of Ajay Devgan, Rahul Bose and Tabu) and songs, Thakshak would have been another master piece. Especially, the presence of songs make the movie slow and lengthy and at times loses the attention of the audience (the songs only give Tabu more screen presence). The acting of the three main characters is first rate but if there was strong interaction between these characters in-terms of strong screen play and dialogue (in most of the scenes between Tabu and Ajay Devgan, Ajay Devgan keeps quite with a sad face; this is true with other scenes of Ajay Devgan too), Ishaan and Suman would have also left lasting impression like Sunny. I think Nihalani realized it and avoided these mistakes while making is next commercial movie Dev, which is a real master piece.

Nevertheless, Thakshak is much better and entertaining than the standard bollywood movies.

hey guys, i say, 2 thumbs up for Govind Nilhani, this is one of the finest films i have ever seen about the underworld, and the intricate relations of dons and political leaders. this movie shows the actual way a gun is used by underworld don's. it does try to preach something to these people from ajay devgan's role too. rahul bose is at his best, an awesome performance by him. also ajay devgan, gives is acting career a boost using his eyes to convey his feelings.

the story line is simple and the usual one used and reused by all directors and producers, but what makes it different is its handling. it keeps on the edge of ur seat, till the end. it makes u think and analyze what u r seeing. every thing looks perfect, logical and to the point. this has made the pace of the film little slow, but that doesn't deny credit to all those who strived to make this movie the way we see it.

i would recommend u to watch this movie......i believe that bollywood too can give movies of great quality and substance to talk about.

rahul

By 1995,I had read and heard a lot about the great movies Govind Nihalani had made but I had seen none of them. One afternoon while watching a weekly programme India This Week on DD-Metro I saw the preview of his then forthcoming movie-Drohkaal. Alongwith the preview there was series of behind the camera scenes and interviews about the movie which had wooed audience in film-festivals even before its release. From what I saw I realised that Drohkaal was a hard-hitting movie. At that time I was a fan of Ajay Devgan stunts but his carrier was on a low phase. I just dreamt that if ever Govind made a commercial film with Ajay Devgan as its hero what will be like.4 years later when Thakshak was released I smiled pleasantly on seeing that the dream was realised. However the flopping of the film made me feel that it is not good. Then one of my friends called it a damp-squib as he had a big hang-over of Vaastav-on similar lines and released around the same time. In all this I almost missed watching Thakshak. However when one of my other hostel-mate gave me rave review about it and said that it is a must watch for intense movie buffs we brought the VCD to hostel and I still remember that we watched it and loved it.

The story of Thakshak is brilliant. Although the concept of land-shark was shown in Mahesh Bhatt's Kabzaa-1986 as well but in Thakshak it is shown in a really complex way. The police-crime-politics nexus is also shown brilliantly. The movie shows a complexity in almost every character and it is portrayed in a good way. Like all famous Nihalani movies-Ardh Satya,Aakrosh and Drohkaal,Thakshak has a strong undercurrent of violence.

Ajay Devgan gives a brilliant performance as Ishan. Although the movie did not do wonders for him still he got acclaim for his portrayal of a man caught in a web of crime. It is totally different from his performance in Company-2002. Tabu as Suman is excellent. She gives new dimension to the role and proves that even heroines can make a solid impact in violent male oriented movies. The mature romantic scenes between the couple are very well executed and one cannot believe that this is the same pair which acted in potboilers liek Vjaypath and Haqeeqat. Amrish Puri is alsobrilliant. A regular of Nihalani Puri again proves his mettle as an actor. However the performance which haunts you the most is that of Rahul Bose.

This movie is quite under rated. Yes it has a low budget, but it has some great character actors and an intriguing story line. But credit has to be given to new comer Rahul Bose whose turn as the hyper violent and unpredictable Sunny is terrifying and one of the best portrayals of a psychotic character in Hindi cinema since Shah Rukh Khans Darr.

Yes the pace is at times slow but the scenes with Rahul Bose and Ajay Devgan will have you on the edge of your seat. I hope to see Rahul Bose in more mainstream hindi cinema in the future as he has great acting talent and could even bridge the gap and enter into hollywood films.